New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) From “Dum Dum Dawai” (Dum Dum medicine) to “sayesta kora” (to punish) or “chomke deoa” (to surprise or alarm), politics in West Bengal is laced with euphemism that translates into anything from domination to revenge, but it is perhaps for the first time that a party winning the poll verdict is largely facing violence.

Across Congress, Left Front, and Trinamool Congress eras, Bengal’s political violence showed continuity more than rupture, with aggression aimed at the vanquished.

The term “Dum Dum Dawai” has no relation to medical treatment or a pharmaceutical product. The origin can be traced to the 1960s “khadya andolan” when a severe food crisis hit West Bengal.

It was marked by mass mobilisation and violence as people sought improvement in the Public Distribution System (PDS).

It remained in vogue during the Left regime to imply “remedy” for nagging local issues.

Used as a political euphemism, it stood for “direct action” or harsh punishment for those who questioned or resisted the regime.

As ruling parties tended to inherit local coercive networks, criminals shifted allegiance to the dominant force.

Through times, certain structural features remained constant, like cadre-based territorial control, politicised local administration, and the use of criminal intermediaries.

Local “dadas” and “mastans” (goons) were used in through the polls and later to dominate booths, panchayats, and the Opposition.

Nicknames such as “Haathkata” (one-handed), “Gaalkata” (scar-faced or slashed-cheek), “Kana” (one-eyed), “Bagha” (associated with tiger), were among the common identifiers in the criminal-political ecosystem.

Veteran Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, in a candid TV interview, had once admitted to the significance of violence in politics, even about his own involvement.

He, too, was hounded by alleged Left-linked musclemen; evaded death, went underground — sometimes hiding at the residence of a senior state Congress leader in Kolkata.

The latter himself was said to hold enough power to even keep those in the regime at bay.

The early 1970s — especially during the anti-Maoist crackdown — faced allegations of Congress-backed “youth gangs”, police excesses reportedly supported by politically-connected local enforcers.

The phrase “scientific rigging” was not yet mainstream, but opposition parties, especially the CPI(M), accused Congress governments of manipulating elections through intimidation and administrative control.

It was the Left Front era that particularly faced allegations of “scientific rigging” and cadre domination.

The term referred to voter-list manipulation, booth management, intimidation before and on polling day, and “captured” areas where the Opposition could not campaign, and neither could electors exercise their franchise.

The Nandigram episode particularly damaged the Left’s legitimacy.

Police firing and clashes during anti-land acquisition protests became symbolic of state-backed coercion.

The CPI(M) officially projected ideological discipline, but local politics often depended on enforcers.

“Unions” and “local committees” faced accusations of extortion and intimidation.

The Trinamool Congress era allegedly decentralised strongmen and saw “cut money” politics.

When it displaced the Left in 2011, critics said that the organisational machinery of coercion did not disappear — it merely changed hands.

Even early in the Trinamool rule, Left parties alleged widespread post-poll violence.

The party’s uncrowned king in Birbhum, Anubrata Mondal, has openly used inflammatory remarks and controversial public statements encouraging aggressive tactics.

Other leaders and MLAs have reportedly been involved in multiple controversies and legal cases, with frequent links in media reports to strong-arm local politics.

The 2018 panchayat polls became notorious because many Opposition candidates reportedly could not even file nominations in parts of rural Bengal.

Several died or were severely injured.

The Trinamool years witnessed accusations beyond booth violence and into “tolabaaji” (extortion), “syndicates”, “cut money” collection — a fact criticised by party supremo Mamata Banerjee herself.

The 2021 Assembly election aftermath became one of the most nationally discussed episodes.

The BJP, Congress, and Left parties accused the ruling party cadres of targeting opponents.

After its recent comprehensive defeat in polls, the Trinamool leadership has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attacks and intimidation.

But the victors are themselves targets of post-poll violence that saw the brutal killing of BJP members, including the late Wednesday murder of Chandranath Rath, Personal Secretary to Suvendu Adhikari.

Adhikari, the senior BJP leader who defeated Mamata Banerjee in her home turf of Bhabanipur, has said that the new administration intends to reopen all files on reported poll violence so that justice is ensured for the victims.

Meanwhile, Trinamool spokesperson Riju Dutta claimed that BJP leaders treated him well after the May 4 verdict, while his own party members are hounding him.

Others have blamed Trinamool leaders themselves for the party’s collapse and subsequent violence.

–IANS

jb/khz